How VR is taking the fear out of Getting Shots

A Virtual Reality story was created to solve the real world problem of children’s fear of vaccination. Design and Animation Studio Lobo joined the Hermes Pardini Laboratories and Ogilvy Brazil to reduce the pain and fear of kids during their vaccination.

During a typical vaccination, everyone gets stressed out. The kids throw their tantrums, the nurses do their best to avoid making an error despite the kids’ movements, and the parents feel guilty.

The vaccination sessions involve one VR goggle, a smartphone, and the VR vaccine app. Once the VR goggle is placed on a child, they get transported to a virtual reality game. The immersive fantasy world involves the children as a hero who is about to receive a magic shield to save the realm from monster invaders. The magical shield is the vaccine.

On the other hand, the nurse will follow the story on a separate screen to simultaneously perform the vaccination. This way, while the magic is virtually performed on the child, they will be given a vaccine by the nurse. The VR story calms and entertains the children without the dread of the needle.

The Pediatrician and Hermes Pardini’s Vaccine Coordinator Melissa Palmieri shared that this is the first time that the vaccination’s painful experience has been transformed into entertainment for the children.

Pain and anxiety are common for children who undergo the procedure involving needles such as drawing blood samples and vaccinations. This has been a worldwide problem battled by private and public health organizations for the past decades.

In the studies of Pediatric Research in Emergency Therapeutics (PRETx), it has been found out that the use of VR during vaccination can reduce both acute and chronic pain in children. This has caused the parents to postpone their children’s vaccination

Lobo, the design and animation studio based in Sao Paulo and New York behind the VR fantasy story, was awarded a Cannes Gold Lion Award for this project.

The three-minute VR experience was first used in April, the highest flu month in Brazil. After that, the vaccination schedules have risen to 13%.